


Cogent

by lcdsra



Series: LCDSRA's A-Z Soulmate Prompts [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:00:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26606380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lcdsra/pseuds/lcdsra
Summary: /ˈkōjənt/adjective1. (of an argument or case) clear, logical, and convincing.Or: Meeting your soulmate is overrated, until it’s not.
Relationships: Rhea & Skathi, Rhea/Skathi
Series: LCDSRA's A-Z Soulmate Prompts [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1935553





	Cogent

**Author's Note:**

> AU: A red string is tied to your left pinky at birth, which can lead to your soulmate.
> 
> Character(s): Rhea, Skathi  
> Relationship(s): Rhea & Skathi  
> Warning(s): Mild swearing

Rhea couldn’t remember if she never had the red string tied around her left pinky finger. It was always taut and sometimes disappeared if she looked away and let her hand go slack, but it was always there.

She could touch it, though. It was soft, like yarn, but didn’t hold any of its flimsy qualities. It seemed secure, and even when she took a pair of scissors to it, it never cut.

Her parents told her she had a red string of fate. Sometimes, people were born with them around their left pinky, and it supposedly led them to their soulmate. More often, though, people didn’t have them, and never would.

There was no stigma against them, even if kids were prone to find any reason to feel superior to others.

But Rhea was lucky. She had a soulmate who was alive and well. Sometimes her soulmate tugged on the string, as if they were telling her they were looking for her too.

: : :

Rhea was chosen by her teachers to give the new student a tour. They were both 15 and had a few classes together, so her homeroom teacher figured it would be ideal for Rhea to introduce this new student.

She waited by the door, and went over the instructions a few more times, trying to settle her anxiety.

She was supposed to find one Skathi Evans, who moved from England and who may or may not need help navigating the school.

She tapped her foot nervously, fiddled with her watch. A few teachers entered the school, fewer students, most dragging their feet in exhaustion.

She didn’t blame them.

However, soon after, a girl opened the door, looking thoroughly lost.

Rhea sucked in a breath and approached and asked, “Hello, are you Skathi Evans?” The girl nodded. “Excellent! My name is Rhea, and I’m going to give you a little tour of the school before your first day of school!” Rhea smiled, trying to ignore her heart racing.

It wasn’t that she was scared, per se, more like nervous. And also, technically, she was supposed to lead her to all her classes, regardless if Skathi felt confident. “Okay.” The other girl shrugged. She looked away.

“May I see your schedule?” Rhea inquired.

Skathi fumbled for a moment before finding a folded up piece of paper. Rhea scanned it briefly before nodding to herself. “Would you like to get started? First period starts in 30 minutes.”

“Yes, lead the way.” The girl, Skathi, remarked, sweeping an arm toward the main hall. “Not like I can.”

The last part was muttered under her breath, but Rhea just smiled back brightly. She did lead them around the school, up and down, and to the different wings.

She ignored how slack her string had gotten. She also ignored just how _right_ it felt to have Skathi at her side.

: : :

Rhea tried to ignore it. She tried her God damned best to ignore it, and frankly, she thought she did a pretty good job.

She made friends with Skathi and allowed her string to disappear from her vision. Even if it seemed more insistent than ever. Even if she could see the red string tied around Skathi’s pinky.

They were friends. And that was okay.

: : :

Rhea loved to hear Skathi talk. Her voice dipped and curved over vowels and in places she didn’t expect. She was rather quiet at first, but her sarcastic tint, along with her accent, was a joy to listen to.

“I mean, there are so many tests. It’s baffling.” Skathi lamented to her one day. “I didn’t even know it was possible for so many to exist.”

“Standardized tests are the new norm.” Rhea replied. “Unfortunately, it really only keeps happening. I think colleges and universities have less though.”

Skathi hummed in acknowledgment. “Not to mention I always put grade 11 instead of,” she paused, her face scrunching.

“We’re sophomores, it’s 10.”

She snapped her fingers. “That one.”

Rhea’s eyes tracked the red string as Skathi continued to talk. It was so tantalizingly close, and it pooled around them on the floor.

“Do you see it?”

“And we start so early, and-“ Skathi paused. “See what.”

Rhea flushed and looked away. “Nothing, keep going.”

“No, what do you mean?”

She bit her lip and then raised her left hand. The red string tailed behind it, limp and loose as it always was around Skathi.

“I do.” She answered quietly. “But really, I don’t really want to date you.”

“That’s okay!” Rhea hastily replied, holding up her hands. “I just wanted to know, really. We don’t have to do anything.”

Skathi nodded. “I’m sorry, though.”

“It’s nothing. I promise.”

Her heart hurt a little, but it was understandable. Skathi’s life wasn’t exactly stable, and the added pressure of a relationship wasn’t what she needed. Rhea was patient. If Skathi ever wanted her, she’d be there.

: : :

They remained friends for the good part of their high school career. They grew up together, and apart, and sometimes Rhea worried about her soulmate when the string would go taut and thrash around.

In those times, she merely tugged back, hard. A reminder that she was there.

Always, after school, when they could, they’d slip off behind the gym and just talk in the shade.

“I know that you can feel the string a lot better than I can.” Skathi admitted one day. “I never really paid attention to it.”

Rhea could, in fact, touch the string at that point. When it was slack, she could weave it between her fingers and around her wrist. “Can you interact with it?” Rhea picked up the string and spun it around her pointer finger. It pooled around her sitting form.

“It’s out of my grasp, almost.” Skathi replied. She groped for the thread too, but it never seemed to properly settle. “I’ll admit, I never gave you much thought.”

“That’s understandable.” It was. “From what you’ve told me about your home life, ‘true love’ wasn’t displayed for you.”

Skathi leaned her head against the brick. “You’re so blasé about me not wanting to be romantic with you.”

“Being with you in any way is enough.” She replied. “And, I care about you. Even if you hated me, I’d still want the best for you.”

“I couldn’t hate you.”

“You’re too kind.”

Skathi smiled in response. It was not one of her sarcastic ones, or confused ones, or determined ones.

Rhea wasn’t sure which it was, but it sent her stomach into knots that rivaled the string that was tangling between them.

: : :

Rhea wanted to fly. That was her dream, frankly, since she was young. She studied science, mostly physics, when she learned that you could, in fact, be a pilot with certain specifications.

She needed further education, which encouraged her to work hard in school. And she got into a program at a lovely college, but it was in New York, and there was no way she could afford living there.

It was a setback that Skathi also experienced.

The other girl wasn’t entirely sure about what she wanted to be. She had the skills for a business job that even their teachers saw, but again, affording college was difficult.

Her grades weren’t perfect, and even with Rhea’s help, her essays weren’t enough for her to get a full ride.

So really, they were both stuck.

Until their counselor told them about STARS. STARS was a multi-faceted company, based in New York, and truthfully seemed a little too good to be true.

The company (was it a company? The man didn’t have an answer for her) was willing to recruit people, fresh out of school, if they had the proper specifications for whatever jobs they were calling for.

Skathi told them she’d think about it. Rhea silently agreed.

“So this whole ‘STARS’ thing is completely a scam, right?” Skathi asked. They were at their spot again, behind the gym.

“It seems too good to be true.” Rhea replied. She was looking at her phone, scrolling through photos of the campus. “Like, provides food and housing and pays for schooling.”

“It’s like those military recruitment agents.” Skathi mused. “What aren’t they telling us.”

Rhea shrugged, rubbing her fingers over the string between them. “There’s kinda only one way to find out. Visit it ourselves.”

“How on earth are we gonna get to New York?”

: : :

The answer was writing some bomb-ass essays. Rhea did more research and found an ‘experience STARS full trip paid for’ application.

Rhea was poised to be a first-generation college student, and Skathi qualified for reduced lunch, they only needed to write.

Rhea got help from the counselors on what exactly STARS was looking for, while Skathi went to the English teachers for help in crafting the essays.

“What would you do, if you got in?” Skathi asked one day, in their favorite spot. She was sitting against the wall, plucking strands of grass that crept up between the cement.

Rhea traced familiar bricks thoughtfully. “I have a school in mind. But I think most of my reactions would depend on what STARS is really like.”

“Do you think we’ll get in?”

“We’re trying. And this application isn’t even a guarantee either.” Rhea shrugged, dropping her hand. “And even if we don’t, I think we’ll figure it out.”

“Together?”

“Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> Time, mystical time  
> Cutting me open, then healing me fine  
> Were there clues I didn't see?  
> And isn't it just so pretty to think  
> All along there was some  
> Invisible string  
> Tying you to me?
> 
> \- invisible string by Taylor Swift


End file.
